The Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station and cooling tower seen in the distance behind a farmhouse March 22, 2011 in Lower Alloways Township, New Jersey. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

Sabotage by an insider at a major utility facility, including a chemical or oil refinery, could provide al Qaeda with its best opportunity for the kind of massive Sept. 11 anniversary attack Osama bin Laden was planning, according to U.S. officials.

A new intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security issued Tuesday, titled Insider Threat to Utilities, warns “violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions,” and that “outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees” for damaging physical and cyber attacks.

“Based on the reliable reporting of previous incidents, we have high confidence in our judgment that insiders and their actions pose a significant threat to the infrastructure and information systems of U.S. facilities,” the bulletin reads in part. “Past events and reporting also provide high confidence in our judgment that insider information on sites, infrastructure, networks, and personnel is valuable to our adversaries and may increase the impact of any attack on the utilities infrastructure.”

Weather officials say haboobs only happen in Arizona, the Sahara desert and parts of the Middle East because of dry conditions and large amounts of sand.

Phoenix dust storm: The dust wall was about 3,000 feet high, said Austin Jamison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Visibility was down to less than a quarter-mile in some areas.

A dust storm rolls into the Phoenix area Monday evening, on July 18. The dust wall was about 3,000 feet high and created winds of 25 to 30 mph.

Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic/AP

Raw Video: Dust Storm Rolls Through Phoenix PART II

A giant wall of dust rolled through the Phoenix area on Monday, turning the sky brown, creating dangerous driving conditions and delaying some airline flights. (July 18)

Phoenix Dust Storm: Video of Doomsday Scenes in Arizona PART I

Taken at 745 PM looking south toward South Mountain from the NWS Phoenix office in Tempe (near Priest & Washington) as the large dust storm approached.

These amazing pictures from the United States show a wall of dust moving through the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Sandstorms like this happen during the region’s monsoon season, which is underway. They occur over desert land and can reach thousands of feet into the air, spurred by strong winds. The dense cloud dramatically reduced visibility, grounding flights at a major airport and leaving thousands without electricity.

Another giant dust storm in Arizona caught worldwide attention on July 5. That storm brought a mile-high wall of dust that halted airline flights, knocked out power for hundreds of people and turned swimming pools into mud pits.

Jamison said Tuesday’s storm was not as powerful or as large as the last one, and probably would not last as long.

“It’s kind of like a ripple in a pond where it spreads out, slows down and fades out,” he said.

Rodriguez said visibility at the airport was better Tuesday than it was during the July 5 storm, which grounded flights for 45 minutes.

“It’s not as bad as it was,” she said. “It’s reduced but it’s not terrible.”

These amazing pictures were shot by two photographers – Mike Olbinski and Blaine Coury – in Arizona. These time-lapse videos show a wall of dust moving through the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Sandstorms like this happen during the region’s monsoon season, which is underway. They occur over desert land and can reach thousands of feet into the air, spurred by strong winds. The dense cloud dramatically reduced visibility, grounding flights at a major airport and leaving thousands without electricity. PS A haboob is a type of intense sandstorm commonly observed in arid regions throughout the world.

Sean Hannity is making it abundantly clear he is not covering Bill Maher’s transgression on Real Time last weekend just to have something to talk about. Hannity dedicated a second segment on his program today to Maher’s comments about Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann last Friday, noting that he had contacted the National Organization for Women and they were prepared to respond. But in the meantime, Hannity had a bone to pick with “angry, bitter” Bill Maher.

First, she swung a slap at her husband’s attacker. She followed up by picking up the plate and trying to strike him with it. And then she moved back to her husband. Sitting on the table before him, she started to clear the foam from his face, sometimes embracing him, holding his bald head in her arms.

Speaking to investors on a Monday conference call, casino developer Steve Wynn – calling himself a “Democratic businessman” – went on an extended rant against Obama and his policies.

His customers and the companies he works with “are frightened of this administration,” he said, “and it makes you slow down and not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America.”

“Until we change the tempo and the conversation from Washington, it’s not going to change,” added Wynn, according to a transcript of the call’s question-and-answer session.

With the August 2 deadline looming, tensions are running high over the debt dilemma in America. On Friday, Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D) spoke out at Capitol Hill asking, “why is this president being treated so disrespectfully?” Lee strongly suggested that such treatment, and a major reason for preventing Obama from raising the debt ceiling, resulted from his race. Now, presidential candidate Herman Cain reacts, saying, “This president isn’t different, he is just wrong. Dead wrong.” Cain continues, saying he thinks “the race card is a joke.”

In this clip, Greta Van Susteren also asks Cain what he would do with our debt problem if he were president.

“If a year ago this president had taken the leadership position, he could’ve, at that time, made sure that we could pay the interest on the debt, make sure we pay our military and military families, make sure we pay the social security recipients, make sure we pay the bills for Medicare and Medicaid … and everything else would’ve been on the table … That’s what I would’ve done a year ago,” says Cain, “and it wouldn’t have been as painful. But today, it’s going to be more painful to do the same thing. I still think you can do it.” Herman tells Greta how:

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says he would attack Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons or to respond to aggression against Israel.

Asked if he agreed with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton’s contention that the “only realistic alternative … is to use force preemptively against Iran’s nuclear weapons program” since diplomacy has failed, Mr. Cain said he did, with one caveat.

“There would be some other pieces of information I would need before I gave that order, but I’m saying that would be Option B,” Mr. Cain said during an interview with editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

“Option A is, ‘Folks, we are not going to allow you to attack Israel‘ … If they call my bluff, they already know — they will know — what Option B is.”

Mr. Cain said that, as commander-in-chief, he would “make it crystal clear [that] if you mess with Israel, you’re messing with the United States of America,” but stressed that his “Cain Doctrine” would not be a “blank check” for Israeli military action.

Presidential candidate Herman Cain on Sunday defended his opposition to a new mosque in Murfreesboro ,Tennessee expressing concern about Shariah law and declaring Americans “have the right” to ban mosques in their communities.

Cain, who stirred controversy this year by saying he would be uncomfortable appointing a Muslim to his Cabinet if elected, first expressed concern Thursday about the controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn. That mosque has been the subject of demonstrations and legal challenges in the wake of the controversy over the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” in New York City.

Yes you read that right, right behind all the controversy in New York over one being build right at ‘ground zero’ and opening up on Sept. 11,2011, we have the second attempt to build a huge mosque in Murfreesboro, just out of Nashville. The Muslims there wonder why all the hostility?

Duh, would the Japanese have asked that during WWII if the Japanese were trying to build something similar to this……..why all the hostility? We have a war on terror going and and so far all of the ‘terrorist’ has been Muslim. Then we also have the fact that it begins with this ‘tolerate’ religion at first,then they later on loud speakers the residents all over Murfreesboro will hear the call to worship five times daily.

Then when they begin gaining a little power, you’ll hear calls for Sharia law to begin in Murfreesboro and when Christians attempt to witness to them they will be arrested for excersising their 1st amendment rights just as happened in Dearborn Michigan last week when three Christians were arrested on a public street for handing out tracks with the Book of John in it.